For at least one day since the November 3 election, all eyes were focused intently on Georgia, where a pair of senatorial runoffs would decide which party would have control of the senior chamber of Congress. Going into Tuesday’s election, Republicans held a slim majority of seats, 52-48, two of which were in play in Georgia.
Although flipping Georgia’s two senate seats to Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff would provide a 50-50 tie in seats, incoming Vice-President Kamala Harris has the tie-breaking vote as President of the Senate, meaning Democrats would have the narrowest of mandates — and it looks like Georgia voters have thrown their support behind the Democrats.
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Tuesday turned out to be a history-making day for Warnock.
Before the day was through, Warnock — the 51-year-old pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church — was declared the winner in his race over Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler, meaning he will become the first Black senator elected in Georgia, as CNN reported.
“I am an iteration and an example of the American dream,” Warnock told CNN. “When I think about the arc of our history, what Georgia did last night is its own message in the midst of a moment in which so many people are trying to divide our country, at a time we can least afford to be divided.”
Nevertheless, Loeffler has so far declined to concede the race.
Despite being down by more than 50,000 votes to Warnock, Loeffler told her supporters that she still saw a “path to victory,” and that “This is a game of inches, we are going to win this election and we are going to save this country,” CNN’s Ryan Nobles reported on Twitter.
Although both races were close, Ossoff’s challenge to Republican incumbent David Perdue proved much closer than the Warnock-Loeffler race.
Indeed, as of Wednesday morning, few if any outlets had called the race despite 98% of precincts reporting in, with the 33-year-old Ossoff leading by a mere 16,370 votes.
Still in play were critical military and overseas ballots, numbering as many as 17,000, and up to 9,000 votes from heavily Democratic Fulton and Gwinnett counties.
However, Ossoff issued a statement declaring victory in the race all the same.
“It is with humility that I thank the people of Georgia for electing me to serve you in the United States Senate. Thank you for the trust that you have placed in me,” he told his supporters in a video.
Experts suggest that it could be Friday before all votes are counted.
And so, like Loeffler, Perdue isn’t conceding anything yet.
In a statement posted to his Twitter account, Perdue said that “this is an exceptionally close election that will require time and transparency to be certain the results are fair and accurate and that the voices of Georgians are heard.”
Even if all the votes are all counted by Friday, the results still might not be clear.
In Georgia, races with a difference of less than 0.5% qualify for a recount, so Perdue could request one if the remaining votes don’t change much, as Ossoff currently leads Perdue by 0.4%, BuzzFeed News reported.
If Ossoff prevails, he would be the youngest Democrat elected to the Senate since Joe Biden in 1973.
h/t: CNN , BuzzFeed News
